Method of charging blast-furnaces.



H". D. WILLIAMS, w. AHLBN & AIN. DIBHL. METHOD 0F GHABQING BLAST EURNAOES.

AIVPLIOATION FIPED 00T. 1907. Patented". Noi 24' 5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WIT-NESSES' n INVETyFS gli; m @www H. D. WILLIAMS, W. AHLBN.& A. N. DIEHL. METHOD 0F` GHARGING BLAST FURNAUES.

O5, rAPPLIMTION FILI-.n 001310, 1907. Patented Nov. 24' 1908.4

5 SHEETS-SHEET' 4.

Patented Nov. 24, 1908, 5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

METHOD OF GHARGING BLAST PURNAES.

mi APPLIDATION FILED O0T. 10, 1907.

V'to the accompanying drawings, forming detail sectional to overcome the diliiculties incident to poor furnace and expensive delays in the opera-A tlon of such furnaces. r

l To-all'whom it ma/ i/ concern.'

tnaces, of which the following is a full, clear,

appliedl for use to the foot of the inclined of materials in the furnace.

smarrii `nonna D.-WILLIAMS, WILLIAM AHLEN, AND AMBROSE N. DI-EHL, or DUQUESNE,

- rENNsYLvaNIA.

manon or cHAReINGBLAsT-FUBNACES.

No, scenes.

Specicatipn of Letterslatent.

Patented Nov. 24, 1908.

I Application led October 10,-1907. Serial'No.A 396,754.

Be it known that we, 'Hoffen D. WILLIAMS, LLIAMAmN, .and AMRosE N. DIEHL, all of Dusquesne, Allegheny county, and 4State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Method of Charging Blast-Furand. eXact description, reference being had part of this specification, in which* Figure l isa `sectional side elevation of one orm of apparatus as it is .applied for use at the bottom or foot of the inclined track or skip-hoist on which materials charged into the blast furnace are hoisted to the top ofthe furnace", Fig. 2 is a sec- Fig. 3 is a sectional sideelevation of an other form of apparatus adapted for use in carryingv out` our improved method as it is track leading to the top of the blast-furnace; Fig. 4 is a plan view of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a plan view, on a larger scale, showing mechanism by which the buckets and bucket-supports are rotated on the conveyer formin Vpart of the apparatus shown in Figs. 3 an 4.

Our invention relates to the charging of stock into blast furnaces,

and it is designed distribution of the different sizes and grades l This irregular distribution in the furnace of the materials forming the furnace burden results from part. of the materials being in lump form and other parts'being in finer or smaller sizes or form, the consequence being that with ordinary charging the coarse lump materials will gather at one side and the finer materials at the opposite side of the' furnace. The ascendinfr gases will rise through that portion of, the furnace cont'alnmg the coarse lumpy materials, causing frequent slips and explosions to occur -in thel furnace, which result in damage tothe Heretofore, various distributing devices have been placed at the top of the furnace, formin part of the hopper feed mechanism Y of the rnace top. This method ofv distribution complicates the top work of the fur- Where it is subjected to heat and is dithcult of access. Such mechanis'm is also sub-1A ject to disarrangement through slips or explosions in the furnace.

Our invention is designed to overcome tributing the char es at orbefore the time when they entertl e carrier in which they are taken to the top ofthe furnace. It also consists in distributing the charge and depositing such charge in a bottom discharge carrier, so that the distributedcharge inthe carrier will drop into the furnace hopper in a distributed condition.

In the drawings, referring to Figs. l and 2, 2 represents thefoot of the inclined track on which the materials charged into the blast furnace are" hoisted to the top of the furnace, and 3 represents the rails forming thetrack on which the scale-car or larry runs in conveying the materials from the stock-bins into position to be discharged into the rotary hopper 4, which is mounted below the track-rails 3. Bottomdischarge stockcarriers or buckets 5, in which the materials are carried on the inclined track 2 to the furnace-top, are removably mounted upon cars 6, these cars being arranged to run upon the circular track, formed by the rails 7, in transferring the carriers or buckets 5 between the rotary hopper 4, where they are filled, and the point below the inclined track 2 at which the buckets are in positionto be engaged by the tro-iey hook` 8 on the trolley 9 andbe lifted on the inclined track 2 tothe 4top of the furnace. The cars 6 are secured together by means of connecting plates 10, so as to enable the cars to be moved together upon the track-rails 7 by the driving motors 11,' although instead of each car being provided with a separate 'n1-tor 11, as shown, one large motor Inay be employed to drive all of the cars when desired.

The hopper 4 is mounted beneath the scalecar track-rails 3 upon the rollers or Wheels 12, which in turn are mounted upon the hopper track 13, and the hopper 4 is rotated by means of the hopper driving motor V14,

which is connected 'by the slow-down gearnace and adds the apparatus. at a goint sie of the hopper' 4. The hopper is ters 'so as to cause the videdl with swinging bottnrdischarge doors 17, these doors being provided with suitable ope ating mechanism by which they are opened and closed in discharging materials into the buckets 5, at the will of the operator.

In' Figs. 3, 4t and 5 of the drawings, another form of apparatus is shown, which is adapted to be used in carrying out our invention,` in which 2a represents the inclined track'leading to the top of the furnace, and 3 the rails forming the track upon which the scalerar 1S runs in delivering materials from' tbesloclobins.` The stock-bins are arranged to discharge materials through the spou'ts or chutes 19 into the scalocar 1S. lt lnot, beingl necessary to Weigh 'the colte 'torniing part of the materials charged into the l'urnacefI after the colte is placed in the coltebins, these bins are located so as to discharge tln'ough the spools or chutes 2O direct into the charging-buckets 5, although the colto may be transferred t'roin the colte bins to the buckets 5a in the .saine manner as the other niaterials'forming the furnace burden. yThe b'ottoinfdiscbarge buckets 5a are ren'iorably placed upon' bucket supports 2l on the upper Section 22 of the conveyor 22, which is located so as to transiter' the bucltete 5 between the point below the scalo-bar iraeltrails S,at which the buckets are loadedv` to that beneath the inclined track 2, at. which they buckets are rcn'ioyed from and are replaced on the conveyor by the trolley-bool; Sa. ot' the trolley 9 on the inclined track 2". The upper conveyor section 22bl is provided With traclewheels 23, and the lovver section 22h with' track Wheels 24, the wheels 24: being mounted upon the circular track formed by the rails 25, and the wheels 28 for the top section 22a being arranged to run upon suitA able track-surfaces provided on the top surface of the lower conveyer section 22". A central shaft 2Gvis provided to keep the upper anddower conveyor sections in place `While they are being rotated and the con- Voyer-sections 22a, 22h, are driven by means of the inotor 27, this motor being connected by slowdown gearing 28 through the intermediate gears 29 and 30 on the vertical sha ft 3l with the spur-gears 32 and 33 on the periphery of the conveyer sections 221 and 22h. The gears 32 and are of different dialneupper section 22n of the coneveyer. to turn at a different speed from that of the lower conveyer section 221 when they are` driven by the motor 27.

Part of the bucket supports'2l aresecured to vertical 'shafts 34 by which caused to rotate, each on'its own axis, While .the conveyer 22 is moved in transferringthe buckets between positlons in Vwhich these buckets are lilled and at Winch the bucketsx are engaged by the trolley-hook 8h to be hoistedmupon the inclined tracks 2H. The bucket supports 2l are supported on the they are` ollers 35 which in turn are supported upon suitable circular traclosur faces on the top face ol.' the upper conveyor section i The lower end ot tho sbatte 3ftare provided with siiuriliinions 3o, which niesh with and are turned by tbe teeth 371 in the oscillating segmental Cil'. Shown 'in ll', i. fhe mental gears Il? are. pivotally mounted upon the pins 3S, which are secured to the upper conveyor section if' '1nd interniediate of the length ot tbe Scie mental gears are pins'l, each haring; an anti-ilriction roller (lo. these pine` and rollers projecting' downu'sn'dly into one or the other ot' the two annular zgrooves or .sli :il or 1li), which arc provided in the top surrace olI the lower conveyor section 22h.

lin tbc operation ot charging4 by our iink proved nielbod with the apparatus shown .in l and .2. the materials are loaded into the scale-car .19,- and are carried by the oar on the track rails l into position obe dischargj 2d into the hopper i; and the buckets 5 are then suceessii'ely iilled with the nieto riale in the hopper. ,lbe hopper 'may be constantly rotated while the inaleifale are, beingl ill bar fed into the, buckets, or may reniain stationary while one bueliet .'i is lillcd and then be rotated before lilline; the next bucket, .so as to bring the rectangular openingl formed in opening the door l2 on tbc hopper into a dillereui vertical plane with respect to tbc position orrupieti b v tboin in .filling the previous burhei, in thisy way eh:inggjnig` tbe distribution ol' the coarse. and line materials in each bucket with respect to the. distribuiion in tbe other liueliei and linally, tho distribution in the furnace ot' one charge ivitb the others. s each bucket tilleul, the next en'iptv buelte, ."i iw brougrbt into position beloiv the hopper l lo be filled, and the filled buckets are nioved ou the cars ti one .step nearer the position ai which they are reinoved 'troni tbe ears and are carried on the inclined tra alt L to tbe top ol the furnace. On reachingthe top ol the furnace tbe bucket emptied inio the turnace hopper, and tbe empty lnultet. is then returned to the car (l, in readinessl lo be again lilled when itV again rearbes the chareing' position beneath tbe hopper `t.

In earryin out. our improved method by lncans of the apparatus shown in I), and 5, the rotary hopper 431 is' dispensed with, and the buckets 5a are lilled direct by the scale-car 18. In this case part et the, buckets 5 are rotated, each upon io' ovvn axis, as the buckets are carried between the charging' point below the scale-ear and the positiv in which they are eneueed by tbe trolley-hook 8El to be liitted to the furnace top and be emptied. lt not beingl necessary to uniformly distribute the coarse and tine parts vot the charges of colte, the colte buckets 5a are not arranged to rotate on the con lill lOl)

lil() till veyer, although all of the buckets 5a may be arranged to revolve,each upon its own vertical axis, it so desired.

As the conveyer revolves in carrying the buckets, the upper section Q2 rotates at a different speed from that of the lower section 22h, and by means otthis diti'erence in the speeds the projecting pins 39 extending downwardly into the recesses 4l and 4Q in the top surface of the lower section 22h of the conveyer travel in and out in following the irregular contour of the recesses 41 and 42 and causes the segmental gears 37 to oscillate upon their pivot pins and through the pinions rotate the bucketl support Qland the' bucket 5a upon the support. The annular grooves are arranged so as to bring the buckets and the handle by which they are lifted always in the right position to be engaged by the trolley-hook 8a when the buckets lreach the position below the inclined .track 2, in which Athey are lifted from the conveyor by the trolley-hook, and are arranged tobring each of the rotatable buckets .y 5 into a dil'erent position when below the scalecar 18 "from that occupied by it during the previous operation, and also that occupied by the previous bucket supports 2l and the buckets upon them. llach o'l the rotatable buckets has eleven different positionsbelow tluI scalescar; and the, positionsl occupied bythe buckets being ditlcrent. theA .stock is always deposited in such manner as to be delivered in position-to be hoisted on the inclined track 2a, in twenty-two different positions relatively to each other. This results in a very uniform distribution of the coarse relative to the tine niateiials in the furnace as the bucketsoccu i the saine rela-` tive position while being emptied only after ay large nuiiibci' vof charges have been put into the furnace.

'The oper-ations of i'eiiioving'and replacing the buckets upon the conveyor and of lioisting the bucketsaiid emptying them into the 'tui-nace with the apparatus shown in Figs. Il, -l and 5 are identical with those used with the apparatus shown in vFigs. l and 2, and need not again be described.

'lhc advantages o'l hour invention are many, and will be apparent, to thoser skilled in the art. 'l'lie-distributioii ot` the coarse and tine materials is done atthe base ol: the furnace, where the result is under the obffii L servation ot' the operator. We believe ourselves to be the first to provide a method of charging in which the distribution is effected at the bottom of the blast furnace, and We intend to cover the same broadly.

Many' variations may be made in the top charging mechanism ot the furnace, and in the method ofk or means Jfor distributing the charges either before they enter the carrier, or-before they 'are fed into the carrier, withoutdeparting from our invention. We claim l. The method ot' charging blast furnaces, consistingy in uniformly distributing the coarse' and fine materials forming each charge, carrying the distributed charges to the top of the furnace, and depositing them in an annular sheet in the top 'feed mechanism of said furnace; substantially ,as described.

The method ot charging blast lfurnaces,

consisting in uniforn'ily distributing the` coarse and tine materials forming each charge, carrying the distributed charge in a bottoni-discharge bucket to lthe top of the furnace, openingthe bottom-discharge and auiiulartv spreading the charges as they descend into the hopper ot' the furnace; silbstautially as described. f

Il. The method ot charging blast furnaces, consisting in distributing the charges7 unilormly mixing the coarse and tine materials iorniing ea'eh chai-ge carrying the distributed charge in a bottomdischarge carrier to the top ot' the furnace, and dropping it through the carrier intothe top feed mechanism of the furnace; substantially as described.

t, The method ot' charging blast furnaces, consisting in distributing the charge and ui'iiforn'ily mixing the coarse and tine materials forming the charge, depositing the distributed charge in a bottom discharge carrier, moving the carrier to the top of the furnace, and dropping the distributed charge into the `liirnace-hoppe-rg substantially as described.

ln testimony whereot, we have hereunto set our hands.

llOMltlR l). VILLTAMS. f W lliLlAM AI-ILEN. A. N. DIEHL. W itnesscs Gico. L. Ninfa, Jani-us llnairiuLL. 

